Energy Transition

Become part of the Energy Transition, join us now!

Why choose this Track?

  1. Freedom to choose your topic, define your project
  2. Learn to work in a multidisciplinary team
  3. Learn to present and defend your project
  4. Work with external partners, build a network
  5. Learn to relate your project to developments within the energy sector
  1. We encourage students, in Teams, to start a new project on the energy innovation of their preference. Several project opportunities are also offered by EIRES, organizing this Track. Additionally, students can join existing Honors Teams of our Track. Coaches will assist you in defining your project, but you, as a Team are responsible for setting and reaching objectives, making a planning, managing budget, organizing your team etc.
  2. Within the Energy Transition Track you will work in multidisciplinary teams consisting of at least three students having at least two different backgrounds. As energy production, consumption, transport, and storage offer a broad line of (technological) challenges that need to be solved and incorporated in our society, all innovations should be analyzed from different perspectives. Organizing our students in multidisciplinary teams is therefore a necessity.
  3. Within our Track meetings we offer the possibility to present your project and, in this way, obtain feedback, improve your presentation skills, and reach out to peers and (possibly, external) partners.
  4. During the process of project definition, your Team will be coached, and you can explore opportunities for reaching out to partners.
  5. You need to obtain sufficient knowledge about the part of the energy sector related to your technology, ensuring that you can discuss the competition in the market and its place in society.

The Honors Energy track contains the following student teams

  • Better/e 
  • Circular pavilion 
  • InCharge 
  • SimEnergy 
  • Team V2A 
  • Team Voltalgae 
  • TheroSel

Examples of research questions of previous Energy Transition Track Projects

  • Will heat pump systems become important contributors to fulfilling heat demand in the Netherlands?
  • Can the heat released when burning metals, make an important contribution to either electricity demand or energy demand in transport (for example; in tankers)?
  • How can we design an interactive decision-making tool for a smart grid at the TU/e campus?
  • How to design and introduce an affordable, sustainable and comfortable house to the housing/building sector?
  • How to develop the technology, the network, financial means etc. to recycle e-waste through the proces of elementary retraction.
  • How to integrate and design a sustainable green house into the neighbourhood of the former Bijlmer-Bajes?
  • How to develop het technology, build up a network and find financial meant to sustainably produce formic acid from CO2?

Max Aerts: 'The best aspect about the track was the freedom of doing a project of your own interests. This helped us to develop ourselves in the areas in which we wanted to develop.' Read more.

Why do we need to contribute to innovations supporting the Energy Transition?

The world population is growing and wealth in certain countries is increasing. As conventional energy resources are becoming scarce and energy demand is growing, the need to switch to more efficient use of resources and more radical changes to use sustainable energy resources is becoming more and more urgent. Additionally, greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease substantially over the next 35 years.

This university emphasizes its part in this transition through the EIRES, which has been one of the three focus areas for several years now.

At the EIRES we explore a broad spectrum of promising technologies. In the short term, researchers expect to generate novel technologies for more sustainable use of existing resources. Research focuses on the built environment, new fuel technologies and smart grid solutions. For the near future, research will deliver novel solar cells and other new revolutionary energy conversion and storage technologies. In the longer run, our nuclear fusion research will contribute to a sustainable transition in a global team effort.

For more information, please check our website,

More information

Want to know more? Contact EIRES, eires@tue.nl.

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